EAST NORRITON — Heading into Friday night’s MJALBL championship game between Whitemarsh and Norriton at Paul V. Fly Elementary School, Whitemarsh needed to win to stay alive and have a shot at the league title Saturday.

That’s what they did — almost. Whitemarsh went up 13-2 before the game was suspended in the middle of the sixth inning due to lightning.

Whitemarsh jumped all over Norriton starter Richard Melito and scored four in the first. Melito managed to keep them at bay for two scoreless innings before the Patriot bats went off in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings — scoring two, five, and two runs, in the innings, respectively.

Michael George relieved Melito in the fourth, and allowed the runner he inherited to score before giving up six runs of his own in the next one-plus innings.

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Norriton tacked on a run in the second and fourth innings off Whitemarsh starter John Hansel. Hansel pitched all five innings for the Patriots, surrendering two hits and striking out three Norriton batters.

Offensively for Whitemarsh, Joseph “Dutch” Reardon went 3-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Brett Highland went 3-3 with four batted in.

The game will resume tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. If Whitemarsh wins, the final game of the championship round will be played shortly after the end of the first matchup.